


the dead cannot hold me down

by CobraOnTheCob



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Force Visions (Star Wars), Gen, Implied/Background Blyla, Implied/Background Codywan, force vision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28481226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobraOnTheCob/pseuds/CobraOnTheCob
Summary: After finding the corroded lightsaber, Vader gets a vision of what happened and needs closure.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	the dead cannot hold me down

**Author's Note:**

> **Fair warning, there's a lot of death in this, and someone does kill themself later in the fic. You've been warned.**  
>  This fic was inspired by me seeing a scene of Young Justice where Artemis sees a glimpse of a future with Wally but it's not perfect and it winds up just being a wish of what she wanted with him, combined with the Yoda Force vision in S6. it'll make sense, but that's the description I can think of right now
> 
> This fic moves fast, so if it's a little too fast for you, I couldn't figure out how to slow it down and I didn't want it to be a multichapter, so the pacing is what it is.

The corroded lightsaber is still in his hand as he enters his meditation pod.

He hasn’t put it down since he’d picked it up.

The lightsaber is from his previous life, the color reminding him of the lightsaber he once wielded and the hilt reminding him of the Padawan he had.

Briefly, the Anakin in him had wondered if his Padawan survived, but seeing the abandoned lightsaber confirmed that she died, along with every clone she had.

He sets the lightsaber aside in his meditation pod, and he drifts off to sleep.

_He’s in the hallways of the ship, still in hyperspace. The clones are held in Order 66’s grasp still, and hunting the Padawan. He hears screaming as someone tears through them, but Vader hears no lightsaber._

Maul? Did she free him to escape?

_It doesn’t matter._

_The vision is pushing him to another hallway, and he sees what’s going on._

_Tano is fighting hard, deflecting blaster bolts into legs and arms, Force-pushing troopers into walls to knock them out. The clone captain presses his attack, still being driven by the Order._

_“Rex!” Tano pleads, “I don’t want to hurt you!” The clone captain ignores her pleas and continues his attack, Tano redirecting his shots with ease. Tano leaps into the air, deactivates her lightsabers, and Force-pushes the clone, making him drop his pistols, and as she runs forward to knock him out, he sweeps her legs, making her drop her lightsabers. He makes a wild grab for his pistol and manages to get two shots, one Tano dodged while the second barely grazed her bicep. Tano manages to call her shoto with the Force, and was about to grab the other one when the ship shook and Vader knew it was coming out of hyperspace._

_“No!” Tano cried out as the alarms began to howl, and only returned her focus to the battle when the clone began to shoot again. The clone manages to stand and advance, she redirects one blaster bolt into his forearm, making him drop his pistol, and as the ship shakes again, she Force-pushes him onto his back._

_It’s not enough, and Vader could swear she has tears in her eyes as the ship begins to go down._

_“I’m sorry,” she said, and leaped, her shoto pointed down to spear the clone’s heart. Her leap gives the clone enough time to grab her lightsaber and then ignite it right as she’s landing on him, the blade striking right in her stomach, just below where her lekku stops. But her strike is true as well - right in the heart - and both Commander and Captain (well, the helmet, anyways) stare at each other before Tano releases her shoto and the Captain lets go of the lightsaber. She stands and staggers away from him, grabbing the lightsaber and deactivates it, gasping in pain as she did before falling onto her knees to pull off his helmet. The clone twitches, but she pulls him in a hug, and as she does, he tries to wrap his arms around her neck, still trying to kill her even with a hole in his chest._

_Vader watches as his arms slacken and Tano holds her friend (_ jatne ori’vod _, Anakin reminds him) before giving one last shaky breath and following him in death, the ship shaking as it makes the plunge into the atmosphere of the moon._

_The ship shook, and Vader was thrown into a wall…_

He gasps awake, his burnt lungs rattling as he breathes.

So that’s how they died.

The Force wouldn’t lie to him, right?

Someone had to have buried them and left the lightsaber outside, right?

He needed answers, which would only be provided to him by a Temple. And not just any Temple.

A Temple designed for such meditation, something that should be below him but was the only way to truly confirm the vision.

After all, neither Anakin nor Vader did things in halves.

* * *

He takes a team of clone troopers (they’re still allowed to wear their old armor, his orders), headed by the one that he knew as Bly, but now only truly responded to CC-5052.

He hated leading them, but their sort of familiar Force signatures kept him from truly descending into pure rage. They weren’t anything like his original 501st legion, but they were the 501st’s siblings and even under the control of the chips, were still formidable soldiers.

He still refers to the names they held in the Clone Wars, since no one bothered to correct him and he’d rather not waste his breath trying to call each one by their numbers.

It doesn’t matter now, they’re approaching a Temple that is said to bring Force users clarity.

He needs to know the truth - Tano was very resourceful and had a tendency not to die easily.

But would the Force lie? The Force wound up never being wrong before.

The pilot informs him that they’ve landed, so Vader pulls himself out of his thoughts and leads the way out. No one says a word - why would they? Good soldiers don’t speak unless spoken to, and Vader has a reputation to uphold.

He leads the way, easily making his way to the room he needs to be in. He stops at the door and without hesitation, lifts it with the Force.

“Commander Bly,” Vader said, “You may accompany me into this chamber. The rest of you stand guard out here.” The troopers obey his orders, while Bly follows him into the chamber. They don’t say a thing as Vader kneels down in the middle of the room, Bly standing almost awkwardly to the side. Vader didn’t care about that (Anakin would care. But he’s not Anakin.).

Vader only came here for clarity, and he’ll get it.

He meditates, waiting for the Temple to come to let him in.

He’s come to find out the hard way that Temples do not like it when someone tries to pry them open. He tried that a few times and the Temples struck back at him, and when he tried to fight back harder, the Temples only caused more damage to him. The Temples didn’t care if he was the Chosen One or not, it seemed.

He chased away all those thoughts, allowing himself to let the Temple take his mind.

He doesn’t realize he’s closed his eyes until he blinks them open; he finds himself just in front of a door, and before he could knock, it opens and a familiar face appears with a smile.

“Master!” Tano greeted him, and Vader took a step back. Why wasn’t she terrified? Shouldn’t she be?

“Ani, get in here!” a voice Vader thought he’d never hear again called from inside the apartment. He obliges, forgetting about the sudden appearance of Tano, and chances a glance down at his body.

He has the body from before he’d Fallen, and clearly, where he was right now, was an alternative -

His jaw falls open to see his wife in a simple (well, simple for her) 501st blue outfit, standing alive and well in the living room where several clones were marveling at the softness of the couches, while Obi-Wan stood nearby with Cody.

“Angel,” he said softly, forgetting about everyone except for Padme, “How...what…?” Padme looked at him in confusion.

“We were all waiting for you, Ani,” she said, “I just put the baby to sleep - “

“The baby?” Vader asked in confusion, “The baby’s alright? Our baby?”

“Yes, the baby’s alright,” Padme said, “Are you sure you’re alright?” Vader shivered as he realized that everyone’s eyes were on him now.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Vader said, and he sees Ahsoka drifting over to the group of clones. He suppresses a gasp of surprise as she laughs at something one of them says, and he recognizes the cluster of clones.

Rex, Fives, Echo, Jesse, and the Bad Batch were there, acting like long time friends as Ahsoka sat and laughed with them.

“Ani?” Padme asked, “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I - “ Vader shook his head. Fives was dead, a blaster bolt from Fox (now also dead from a snapped neck) silenced the proud ARC trooper, Ahsoka and Rex killed each other, Jesse was probably dead, and the Bad Batch had disappeared. Yet here they were, alive and well, acting like siblings instead of enemies.

“Ani?”

“Can...can I see our baby?” he asked. Padme shrugs.

“You can,” she said, “But be gentle, I just got our baby to sleep.” Vader feels like something is off, but he doesn’t question it right now. Everything’s too happy and good and he doesn’t want to throw it away yet. He instead approaches Fives as Padme leaves to get the baby, bewildered on how Fives survived in this version of the universe.

“Fives!” Vader greeted, trying to be friendly.

“Hey General,” Fives says almost casually, “What do you need, sir?”

“You...survived,” Vader said, not sure on how well Fives would take someone going up to him and telling him he was supposed to be dead.

“‘Course I survived, General,” Fives said, “You were there, and you Force-pushed me out of the way just in time for you to tell Fox or any of the Coruscant Guard to not shoot me.”

“Oh,” Anakin said, and the clones blinked at him.

“Sir, have you hit your head recently?” Rex asked.

“No…?” Vader replied, and watched as the clones and Ahsoka glanced to each other with varying degrees of concern in their eyes and with shoulder shrugs. He’s saved from further questioning when Padme steps out with the baby.

“Do you want to hold the baby?” Padme asked. There it is. The one loose thread in this golden to-good-to-be-true tapestry that he absolutely had to pull.

“Just ‘the baby’?” he asked, “What’s the baby’s name? The gender?” he demands. Padme’s brows furrow, and she holds the baby a little closer to her chest.

“The baby was born two days ago, we’ve been throwing names around,” she said defensively, “The clones aren’t exactly the best at naming, you know.” The clones chuckle at this while several of them tease each other.

“Let me see the baby, please,” Vader said, and Padme almost reluctantly passed him the baby. When he lifts the part of the blanket that was covering the face, he gasps when he sees the baby’s face, or rather, the lack thereof.

“What’s wrong, Ani?” she asked, and he quickly passed the baby back to her. The others stand up, almost defensively, and Cody and Obi-Wan look up from their conversation.

“The baby doesn’t have a face,” he said, terrified, “The baby doesn’t have a face.”

“Of course the baby does!” Padme snapped, and she rocked the baby gently as the baby stirred. Vader shakes his head.

“This is all wrong,” he said, and points at Fives, “You died. Fox shot you - “

“I’m standing right here,” Fives deadpanned, while the clones and Ahsoka edged closer to Fives as if to protect him. Vader turned his attention to Ahsoka and Rex.

“You two killed each other,” Vader stated, and Ahsoka looks absolutely furious.

“We’d never hurt each other,” she said, her hands going to her lightsabers, “I’d never hurt my _ori’vod_ and he’d never hurt me.”

“Then what about Order 66?” Vader asked, and briefly, Ahsoka, Fives, and Rex flickered; each one showing themselves as they died - Fives in shiny armor; a blaster hole in his heart, Rex still in his armor; but a lightsaber stab wound in the chest, and Ahsoka; a lightsaber wound in her stomach .

“Palpatine was found out to be a Sith Lord and he was easily disposed of, along with getting the information about the chips from the Kaminoans,” Ahsoka said, still tense. Vader stepped back.

“No...I found out his true colors after I came to Coruscant to save him…this is all wrong!” Vader screamed, “You died! I killed you! You chopped off my limbs!” He looked from Fives, Rex, and Ahsoka, to Padme, and finally to Obi-Wan. His breathing became heavy, like his lungs were burning up again, and as he looked down, he saw himself becoming the terrifying half man, half machine figure that brought nothing but misery. Ahsoka stepped forward, unsheathing her lightsabers.

“I’ll get Padme and the child out of here,” Obi-Wan said, and Cody followed Padme and Obi-Wan away.

“No!” Vader yelled, reaching out to them, but Fives and Rex pulled out their pistols and started firing. Echo joins Fives, and Jesse circles him along with the Bad Batch. Vader blocks every shot with pure desperation, his ragged breathing coming back to him as the golden vision begins to turn against him.

Is this how every Jedi felt? Vader briefly wondered as he redirected the shots. He has to kill them all in order to escape this golden nightmare, and he doesn’t hesitate to make his deflections lethal.

The Bad Batch and Echo are the first to go down and fade away, and then Jesse follows them soon afterwards.

“Echo!” Fives screams, and leaps at Vader, guns blazing, enraged at the loss of Echo, and Vader easily redirects a bolt into his chest. Fives collapses and fades, and now he’s left with Rex. He doesn’t hesitate to slice through his former captain’s pistols, before stabbing him in the chest.

“We trusted you, sir,” Rex gasped as he collapses. It’s only when Rex fades does Ahsoka leap in, and they duel hard. She’s fast, but he has brute strength on his side, and he’s fast to knock her down.

She doesn’t die easily - she rolls away from his stabbing attempt and gets up and blocks his strikes.

“You did this,” she snarled, “You had us all, and you decided we weren’t enough.”

“I couldn’t just let Padme die!” Vader retorted, and Ahsoka merely danced away, out of reach.

“Was it worth it?” his former Padawan demanded, and for a minute he’s reminded of when she was poisoned by the Son on Mortis, “Was it worth it, letting thousands, if not millions get killed just to save two lives?”

“I couldn’t - !”

“You had Rex! You had Obi-Wan! You had the 501st! You had the Jedi Council! You had me!” Ahsoka yelled as she leaps at him, punctuating each word with a strike, “And you had Padme, your own wife!”

“I couldn’t let her die! Why doesn’t anyone see that?!” Vader pressed back.

“You know we would’ve understood,” Ahsoka said, defending his strikes, “We could’ve helped.”

“You couldn’t - “

“We could’ve helped,” Ahsoka insisted, “But you threw all of us away. In trying to save the family you wanted, you destroyed the family you already had.” At that, Vader let out a yell, reached out in the Force, telekinetically grabbed her by the neck before slamming her down. Ahsoka dropped her lightsabers from the blow, and as she scrambled back away from him, he stood over her, his lightsaber pointed right at where he’d seen the fatal wound that killed her.

“You did this,” Ahsoka said, staring up at him blankly, “The galaxy gave you all it could and you destroyed it.” Vader said nothing - he didn’t hesitate to reverse the grip on his lightsaber, and stab her in the stomach - the same exact spot Rex stabbed. She faded away, her blank cyan eyes the last thing to fade as he staggered away and collapsed.

The room of the golden vision fell apart, and Vader despaired.

The accusations swirled in his head as he came back into his own body, in the Temple chamber that glowed red. He snaps out of his meditation to see Bly laying on the ground, his breathing even and relaxed.

“Commander,” Vader said, but Bly doesn’t stir, “Bly?” He nudges the sleeping Commander with his boot, but Bly doesn’t respond.

Hours will pass before Bly suddenly wakes up, and when he does, he pulls off his helmet. Vader’s almost nearly taken aback by Bly’s appearance - Bly’s eyes are haunted and sad, like the Temple had shown him something as well.

“Commander?” Vader asked, the Anakin side of him briefly slipping out. Bly shivers.

“Kill me,” Bly rasped, “The Temple will take my body.”

“How would a null know this?” Vader asked.

“The Temple will bring clarity to all living things who seek it out, whether consciously or unconsciously,” Bly said, “Please, kill me.”

“No,” Vader said, but before he could say more, Bly lunges, grabs Vader’s lightsaber, turns the uningnited hilt and presses the emitter side to his chest, and activates the lightsaber just before Vader could take it back. Bly gasps, letting go of the lightsaber, and slumps to the ground, something akin to a smile on his face as he dies. The lightsaber turns itself off as Bly falls to the ground, and Vader takes it back and clips it to his belt.

A door opens on the far side of the room, and a hooded figure comes into the room. Vader reaches for his lightsaber, but the figure only kneels down, scoops up Bly’s body and helmet, and turns to walk out the room. Vader doesn’t stop the hooded figure, and he says nothing as the door closes behind them.

He merely leaves through the door he came in, and when one of the troopers asks where Bly was, he merely responds that the Temple took Bly for some reason. They accept this, and don’t say a word as the ship departs from the planet.

The words still swirl in his head.

But Vader will not be dragged down by the accusations of the dead. They were dead, he was alive, they didn’t see it his way, and they paid the price for it.

**Author's Note:**

> minor edits will be made if i catch them - I posted this in a rush lol


End file.
